As such, there is no easy way to know "if" the WormGuard Warning Dialog has "popped-up" -- or where it is hiding (if it is hiding). (No WormGuard Icon appears in the Desktop Taskbar, even when the Warning Dialog is present).

Why doesn't the WormGuard Warning Dialog just appear -- in plain view -- on top of the initiating program window, so the user could see it immediately and take appropriate action ?

Repeating your "wg.txt.exe" experiment -- from Windows Explorer -- achieved the expected results (the same as you describe). However, using ZTree, the WormGuard Warning Dialog occurs *hidden* below the ZTree window, with absolutely no indication that it is sitting there --- other than the intended ZTree "file open" action hangs. No error message, or other feedback is visible, anywhere.

I think the problem is related to the ZTree "dual user interface" -- a Win32 process running within (or behind) a DOS-like, text-mode display box.

I guess I should report this problem to the ZTree Forum (http://www.ztw3.com/forum/forum.cgi) -- to see if they have a work-around --- unless you have any other ideas to try ?

There was an additional suggestion offered at the ZTree Forum, in order to avoid the "hidden WormGuard Warning Dialog" problem. I didn't have a chance to try this yesterday:

ZTree can launch programs, and concurrently open associated files, in many different ways. It was suggested that I try using the "START" command (Windows NT/2K/XP) -- which forces a program to always be launched in the asynchronous mode as a separate task. (Type START /? at a command prompt for more help with the START command.)

ZTree will START a "highlighted file" (or its associated program) when supplied with a ZTree "Alt-Batch" command, using a command line such as:

START "" "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" %1

- or:

START "" "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" %1

This solves my original problem of the hidden WormGuard dialog "freezing the action" without any visible feedback. (This would not work for ZTree under Windows 9x.)

When using the Windows START command, WormGuard appears, and acts oblivious to the opening of specific "problem files" (and the launching of specific programs) that are otherwise intercepted by the WormGuard Warning Dialog. START defeats WormGuard.

As such, this appears to be a bug in WormGuard v3.0.

Nevertheless, what I really would like to see in WormGuard v4.0 -- in order to solve the (previously described) hidden WormGuard dialog problem with ZTree --, is an "optional" (default = off) Icon that would (optionally) appear in the Windows Taskbar, concurrent with the WormGuard Warning Dialog. This might require a small 1024 byte executable file used (only) to display the (optional) icon.

This would (or should) then allow the standard Alt-Tab keyboard operation to 1) check for a possibly hidden dialog (when WormGuard freezes the action) -- and also 2) bring any hidden WormGuard dialog "to the top" where the user could deal with it in the normal fashion.